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One man in custody following Langley homicide

Several private aircraft owners in Metro Vancouver were on stand-by Monday morning after police put out a call for help in chasing down a man suspected in a Langley homicide.

Langley RCMP Insp. Amrik Virk issued a public thank you to those who offered their services, after an unidentified male was found dead in a basement suite in the 19800-block of 69th Avenue, just after 7:30 a.m., and local Mounties, with help from the Abbotsford Police, started to track the man suspected of killing him.

"We asked for any aircraft or helicopters in the area that could assist us," Virk said Monday. "We had calls on hold from people waiting at airports with their own fuel, their own aircraft, waiting to help us."

The suspect, a 24-year-old Langley resident known to police, was arrested two hours later near the Greater Vancouver Zoo in Aldergrove after he was forced off the road by a Langley RCMP officer. He had not yet been charged Monday so his name was not released.

Sgt. Jennifer Pound, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, would not comment on how the suspect was identified nor on his previous record. "It was a priority to get him off the streets and we did that in under two hours," she said.

Police were still trying to identify the dead man Monday, and did not know what the relationship was between him and the suspect. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.

Pound said nobody else was in the home when police arrived, just after 7:30 a.m., on reports of a possible body in the basement suite. They found an unresponsive male, who was pronounced dead a short time later.

According to the B.C. Assessment Authority records, the home where the body was found is owned by Ole and Kristy Hensrud. There was no answer at the house Monday but a voice mail listed four people as living at the residence.

Neighbours say the family of four lived upstairs and rented out the basement suite, which is common for residents in that community.

Heidi Polachek, who has lived in the neighbourhood for three-and-a-half years, said the homicide was unusual for their typically quiet and unassuming neighbourhood, which comprises several large homes. She was walking her dog when she saw the police tape going up, but said she "didn’t want to interfere."

"It’s kind of a shock," she said. "It’s unusual in this neighbourhood, it’s not something you’d normally see here at all."

Shawna Laderoute said she was brushing her teeth when she saw in the mirror the yellow police tape being strung up on the street.

But she brushed off the situation as being "nothing exciting."

"It’s an isolated incident," she said. "It’s not rampant through the neighbourhood. But if it was the house next door I’d be worried."

Pound said the suspect will be charged with homicide.

Meanwhile, the chase resulted in damages to an RCMP cruiser, Virk said, but wasn’t sure if any Abbotsford police vehicles were also damaged. He said a separate investigation will be conducted into whether other private vehicles were damaged in the chase, which started at 264th Street and Highway 1 and ended near 40th Avenue.

The homicide brought to 36 the number of people killed in Metro Vancouver in 2012, Pound said.